Even the Washington Post Knows Congress Can Defund Planned Parenthood

You can be pro-abortion, as the Washington Post is through and through, and still come to conclusions that advance the cause of life. Examples?

I don’t know if I can find more than one instance from the WaPo’s editorial page, but yesterday it did reach a sound conclusion on the same topic for a second time. To wit, the editorial clobbered Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, for blocking, for a second time,” a “legitimate, politically accountable decision” on “flimsy legal grounds”.

Presidents too often try to advance their agendas unilaterally. Yet when it comes to funding abortion, Republicans went about it the right way: The One Big Beautiful Bill, which President Donald Trump signed in July, restricted the payment of Medicaid funds to certain abortion providers for one year.

To be precise, one provision of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” bars organizations that provide elective abortion, largely but not exclusively Planned Parenthood, from receiving federal Medicaid funding for one year if they received more than $800,000 in federal funding in 2023.

The thesis of the editorial, headlined “The liberal judicial ‘resistance’ lives” is that “Judicial policymaking distorts the political process.” Judge Indira Talwani agreed that the restrictions are a burden (WaPo replies “if the policy is harmful, residents of affected states can elect senators to reverse it”), adding a second component: that “Congress was too vague about which health care providers are covered by the new Medicaid rules.”

But administering a welfare state always involves interpreting rules, not all of which are black and white. If there’s a dispute about whether a particular provider was covered by the law, that can be handled on a case-by-case basis. It’s not a reason to overturn Congress’s nationwide policy.

The concluding paragraph agrees that “The federal courts are an important check on overreach by the elected branches of government,” adding

But courts can also overreach and undermine their own legitimacy. Appellate judges would be doing the judiciary a favor by promptly reversing Talwani, again.

Two other quick points. In its memorandum in opposition to earlier temporary restraining order, HHS wrote

Importantly, the statute does not depend on whether any entity advocates for abortion. Planned Parenthood and its members may continue to engage in First Amendment activity; they can only be disqualified from Medicaid if they continue to provide certain abortions on or after October 1, 2025. If Planned Parenthood and its affiliates cease providing those abortions, they could receive Medicaid funds even as they continue to advocate for abortion. And restricting funding for abortion providers does not violate the First Amendment. [Emphasis in the original.]

Laura Echevarria, Director of Communications and Press Secretary for National Right to Life, wrote that “No organization has a constitutional right to taxpayer funding—especially when that funding is subsidizing the destruction of innocent human life. The notion that Planned Parenthood affiliates who share branding, finances, and infrastructure are somehow constitutionally protected defies common sense.”

National Right to Life strongly supported the One Big Beautiful Bill Act because for one year it ends the practice of funneling taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood and having those funds shore up the operations of the abortion industry. Under this law, taxpayer funds will not serve as a financial subsidy to an industry built on taking the lives of preborn babies.

Planned Parenthood has long claimed that abortion is just a small part of what they do. If that were true, they could stop performing abortions if they wanted to and continue to receive federal funds, but their panic reveals the truth: abortion is central to their business and to their bottom line.

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Planned Parenthood is not a government agency.

It, and other NGO’s, have no reason to get tax payer monies. Let them raise money privately.

Big Beautiful Bill Act because for one year it ends the practice of funneling taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood and having those funds shore up the operations of the abortion industry.

Why doesn't it stop the murder in perpetuity? Was that too much to ask from Republicans? So reading this makes it sound like the funding of baby killing for PP is back on come 2026?

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